No Majerus is better diet for ex-Ute Harvey

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

No one is looking over Tony Harvey's shoulder now.

No short, stout, balding coach barking in his ear when he misses a shot.

No coach bellowing out his mistakes to teammates.

Harvey is free at last -- and it shows.

He smiles more on the court than he did while he played under Utah coach Rick Majerus the last two seasons. And he competes like he has nothing to lose, not like he's afraid of losing it all.

"At this level, I feel I'm being treated more like a man than a boy," Harvey said after Wednesday's Las Vegas Bandits practice at Walker Elementary School. "There were times when it was hard (at Utah), but I think that comes with any program.

"I respect what I learned there. You know, when you walk away from it, you have to respect a coach that demands 110 percent from you because that brings your game to another level."

The 6-foot-5 point guard hopes what he learned at Utah will help him secure a job with the Las Vegas Bandits of the International Basketball League.

Harvey is one of 20-plus players fighting for a spot on the Bandits' 10-man roster. The Bandits opened training camp Wednesday at Warren Walker Upper School.

Weber State's Eddie Gill and returning Bandits Michael Johnson and Isaac Burton are three other point guards pushing Harvey.

"I like his size, especially for a point guard," Bandits head coach Lionel Hollins said.

Harvey was rated one of the top 15 junior college players on the West Coast after playing two seasons at Cerritos Junior College.

Harvey averaged 22.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.9 steals as a sophomore and had his pick of schools -- including Texas, Kansas and Arizona State -- but chose to attend Utah because of the team's potential to return to the NCAA Tournament after reaching the Final Four in 1998.

It was a choice that involved a lot of sacrifice.

"At JC, I felt like I had more freedom to make mistakes," Harvey said. "I tended to play a little more aggressive.

"Then when I was playing at Utah, the offense wasn't centered around me like it was in JC. I was kind of stepping in to complete a piece of a puzzle that was already there.

"I knew going in, my junior year they had Andre (Miller, now with the Cleveland Cavaliers). I knew he was an All-American. They had Hanno (Mottola), an All-American, so I knew I would be surrounded by four, five other great players on the court. It didn't really bother me."

But soon Majerus got in his head and he wasn't able to regain his confidence before his eligibility was over.

Harvey's numbers dipped significantly while at Utah.

As a junior he averaged nine points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24 games and 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 32 games as a senior.

"I was young," Harvey said. "Coach Majerus is sort of a perfectionist to where you're afraid to make a mistake.

"And when you get into the habit, you're too careful. I was playing the game way too careful. Playing the game to not make a mistake.

"There came a time during the season where he told me to be more aggressive, but I didn't feel it. I fell into a habit where every shot that I took there was a question, unless I made it, there was a question."

Though he has a lot of respect for his former coach, Harvey was never comfortable with Majerus' coaching style.

"The way he coached, it was questionable," Harvey said. "I had never been around anything like that.

"He was an up in your face kind of coach. Some guys aren't used to it.

"He comes off as a perfectionist, which is not bad. But if you make a mistake, he'll let you know you made a mistake. Whatever it takes to get it through your head, whether to yell at you or call you a name. But what that does is, you don't make that mistake again."

Over the summer, Harvey spent six months training with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Like most players vying for a chance to play in the IBL or playing in the Continental Basketball Association, Harvey aspires to make it to the NBA.

Already, he feels that what he learned from Majerus gives him an advantage over most other players he has faced.

"I learned discipline," Harvey said. "Every practice we had was harder than the games.

"The things that all coaches say, they say basketball is 80 percent mental, 20 percent physical. I think coach Majerus taught me the mental part of the game."